At the time, Mozart’s genius – recognised at an early age – could only be explained as being God-given. Wolfgang Amadeus and his sister Maria Anna, older by five years, were admired as being “Wunderkinder” (prodigies) on their travels through Western Europe between 1763 and 1766. The piano sonatas “with a violin accompaniment” K. 6–9 were composed in Paris. It is wonderfully fresh and varied music. The piano is joined by a violin that adds colour, but not as an equal partner unlike in the later, great violin sonatas (see HN 77–80). This music is not only ideally suitable for piano and violin teaching purposes but will also allow musicians who already know “everything” to discover some treasures.

In three separate volumes, Henle's carefully researched publication includes two separate violin parts, one sparingly, but stylishly, marked by Benjamin Schmid. Budding young musicians will be inspired to play these delightful early gems written by a performer of similar age.
[Strings magazine, 2013]

The levels of difficulty of the music for violin published by G. Henle Publishers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

easy

medium

difficult

The levels of difficulty of the violin music published by G. Henle Publishers

Level

Degree

Example

1

easy

Beethoven, 6 German Dances WoO 42

2

Beethoven, Rondo G major WoO 41

3

Mozart, Violin Sonata F major KV 547

4

medium

Haydn, Violin Concerto A major Hob. VIIa:3

5

Bach, Violin Concerto a minor BWV 1041

6

Brahms, Violin Sonata G major op. 78

7

difficult

Paganini, No. 9 from Capricci op. 1

8

Beethoven, Violin Concerto D major op. 61

9

Berg, Violin Concerto

I have assigned all of the violin music in G. Henle Publishers' catalogue a level of difficulty, ranging from "very easy" to "very difficult". The model for this was the evaluation system with nine levels developed for Henle's piano catalogue by Rolf Koenen. Unlike the works for solo piano, I have decided against evaluations that lie between two levels (e.g. 4/5 or 7/8).

This kind of attempt will always be "relative" to some degree. While the work remains the work, what is relative is the technical and musical ability of the player. Let us take a look at Mozart, for example, from the perspective of an Arthur Grumiaux and from that of a very young pupil. It is clear to whom my levels of difficulty are addressed: to the pupils or their teacher. I have, of course, always endeavoured to objectively assess the purely technical level of difficulty. But everything "between the lines" is, of course, left up to the judgement of each individual musician. Depending on our abilities, we perceive the "difficulty" of a work for violin differently, yet with the same conviction.

At the start, categorizing violin literature into levels of difficulty from 1 to 9 seemed to carry a certain risk as well as being unknown territory, yet I have now gained a deep insight into all of the works for violin in G. Henle Publishers' catalogue.